Caring for seniors
By Chantelle de Jonge Chestermere-Strathmore MLA
Through a series of bold reforms, Alberta’s government is successfully lowering power prices – with year-over-year power rates for August dropping by nearly 60 per cent.
Among the changes made, we are restricting the practice of economic withholding, which is estimated to save Albertans a billion dollars on their power bills over the next year; lowering and stabilizing Local Access Fees; enabling innovative solutions such as proactive distribution planning, energy storage, and on-site generation; providing Albertans with information and support through the Utilities Consumer Advocate; and, restructuring Alberta’s electricity market to support long-term affordability.
According to independent reports, these changes are projected to save Albertans over $1 billion in the first year alone. The latest data highlights a dramatic improvement: in August 2023, the average default electricity rate in Alberta was 32.27 cents per kilowatt-hour, but by August 2024, it had dropped to 13.19 cents per kilowatt-hour. Not to mention the even lower cost options that Alberta’s competitive electricity retailers are offering. For families who have been struggling with unpredictable utility bills, this is a crucial step toward achieving financial predictability and security.
Looking ahead, our government has even more measures coming into force to protect Albertans from high power prices. The Utilities Affordability Statutes Amendment Act, set to take effect in 2025, will stabilize and limit local access fees. While more work is still to come on the default electricity rate, this legislation also renames the default rate to the Rate of Last Resort. These changes are expected to save an average family $937 per year on their power bills.
More is still yet to come, and Albertans can continue to look forward to seeing their energy costs decrease. Every line on utility bills is being addressed, and delivery costs – also known as transmission and distribution fees – are next on the list to tackle. Our government is working tirelessly to keep Alberta affordable while ensuring our economy is growing and diversifying. We are committed to ensuring Albertans can keep more of their hard-earned money by making Alberta’s electricity market more affordable and transparent.
In the meantime, I encourage all Albertans to learn more about their energy options at ucahelps.ca.
As always, please feel free to email my office with your feedback and questions (Chestermere.Strathmore@assembly.ab.ca).
(Chantelle de Jonge is the MLA for Chestermere-Strathmore and the Parliamentary Secretary for Affordability and Utilities)